Thursday, 29 March 2012

For the first time in Brazil a gay couple has succeeded
in having a child through In vitro fertilization.Baby girl, Maria Teresa, was born January 29 in the
northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and her birth certificate lists
both men as her parents.Mailton Alves, 35, and Wilson Albuquerque, 40, told
television channel O Globo that they decided they wanted to have a child after
being together for 15 years. They were married in 2011 in ceremony recognized
under Brazilian law.The couple's right to have a child was upheld by a
decision of Brazil's Federal Council of Medicine, which authorized the artificial
fertilization with sperm donations from either partner. Until then, authorizations for artificial
fertilization were granted only to women who were married or in stable
relationships. Doctors used an anonymous egg donor and sperm from
Alves. The fertilized egg was implanted into the womb of his cousin."It's an important precedent for people like us
who have spent 15 years together and who managed to realize their dreams to
have a child, a family," Alves said.Clicerio Bezerra, a family court judge in the
Pernambuco capital of Recife, has legally recognized the paternity of the
couple's child."There are cases of registration of double
paternity by adoption," the judge told a local newspaper. "This case
is the only one in which two men have registered a baby as a legitimate child,
as far as I know."If it "is permitted that (same sex couples)
constitute a family through marriage, why not allow that family to be completed
with a child," the judge said. The couple said they plan to have another
baby next year.